Intro: "The Murdoch Phone-Hacking Scandal may have just metastasized. The so-called 'Climate-Gate' controversy - in which e-mails about global warming were stolen from researchers at Britain's University of East Anglia in November, 2009 - now turns out to bear the stamp of Neil Wallis, one of the key figures in Murdoch's hacking of the phones, voicemails, and other electronic communications of thousands of people."

Keith Olbermann and Joe Romm discuss Climate-Gate and the possibility of a connection to Rupert Murdoch's phone-hacking scandal. (photo: Current TV)

Murdoch Henchman Responsible for Climate-Gate?

By Keith Olbermann, Countdown with Keith Olbermann/Current TV

21 July 11

he Murdoch Phone-Hacking Scandal may have just metastasized. The so-called "Climate-Gate" controversy - in which e-mails about global warming were stolen from researchers at Britain's University of East Anglia in November, 2009 - now turns out to bear the stamp of Neil Wallis, one of the key figures in Murdoch's hacking of the phones, voicemails, and other electronic communications of thousands of people.

Wallis is unique in this scandal. He had been the Executive Editor of Murdoch's News Of The World when hacking was at its peak. Yet in 2009 he wound up being hired by the police as a public relations consultant while the police investigated the hacking scandal. And he wound up spying for Murdoch's people on what Scotland Yard was investigating.

Wallis was, as the New York Times put it, "reporting back to News International while he was working for the police on the hacking case."

Moreover, while Wallis was keeping Murdoch's organization apprised of what and whom the police were investigating, the police were trying to convince other news organizations not to cover the story - a suppression of evidence that benefited both the police and Rupert Murdoch. As the British newspaper The Guardian reported last Friday: "Scotland Yard's most senior officers tried to convince the Guardian during two private meetings that its coverage of phone hacking was exaggerated and incorrect without revealing they had hired Neil Wallis ..."

It was neither exaggerated nor incorrect. Last Thursday, Neil Wallis was arrested. Last night, it was revealed that while acting as a double-agent for Scotland Yard and Murdoch, Wallis was also consulting Conservative Party Leader David Cameron during the 2010 election that saw Cameron rise to become the nation's Prime Minister.

Today, bobbing up to the surface through this vast ocean of ethical filth, comes Neil Wallis's role ... in "Climate-Gate."

On November 20th, 2009, somebody broke into a computer server at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, and stole thousands of emails and computer files. The documents were leaked to Climate Change Deniers, and although exhaustive analysis later proved that the emails merely revealed scientists' anxiety that Climate Data and Research were being properly handled and studied, the Deniers have treated those emails as if they were a kind of Holy Grail of fraud. They claim the emails not only disproved all of climate change, but also that they proved that scientists had doctored data in order to exaggerate the urgency of an international conference on climate change coming up the next month in Copenhagen in Denmark.

As the corporations and lobbyists who sought to feed the myth that there is no man-made climate change disseminated, exploited and deliberately misinterpreted the stolen e-mails - and used Fox News and other Murdoch enterprises as their principle venues - the victims, the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, decided they'd better hire a public relations pro to help them fight back. They hired ... Neil Wallis.

The Murdoch editor who had supervised electronic hacking at "The News Of The World," but then went to work for Scotland Yard, but then spied on the Scotland Yard hacking investigation for Murdoch's men, but then tried to suppress media coverage of the Scotland Yard hacking investigation, now found himself in exactly the same kind of candy store over climate change denial. And he was the chief kid!

As it was phrased in a gushing review last year in "Music Week Magazine" of Neil Wallis and his PR firm "Outside Organization": "Wallis led on the University of East Anglia's 'Climategate' job, when Outside was drafted in to help the university's Climatic Research Unit defend itself against charges of scientific misconduct."

Climate change scientists and outside experts agree that, with Neil Wallis at the helm, the Climatic Research Unit couldn't have done a worse job defending itself. The myth that its emails "disprove" Global Warming persists today.

In the Murdoch Hacking Scandal, Wallis has already been shown to have been undermining the efforts of the people for whom he'd been hired to work - the police. In the Murdoch Hacking Scandal, Wallis has already been shown to have been feeding information from the investigators, to those being investigated. In the Murdoch Hacking Scandal, Wallis has already been shown to have been working for Rupert Murdoch, long after he claimed he wasn't working for Rupert Murdoch. And in the Murdoch Hacking Scandal, Wallis was an executive editor in charge of having people illegally hack phones, voicemails, and other electronic communications, and then publicizing the data and details that the hacking had produced.

And yet it was to him that climate scientists turned ... to defend themselves against hackers.

What, if anything, Neil Wallis had to do with the original hacking of the climate emails at the University of East Anglia, is still speculative ... just as whether or not he was a double-agent for Murdoch in this hacking case, just as he had been a double-agent for Murdoch during Scotland Yard's hacking investigation. But it may not be speculative for long. There is the news from The Financial Times: a possible FBI/DOJ investigation of a Murdoch subsidiary hacking the computers of a business rival. And earlier today, PC World Magazine reported that while we've all been working with a number of 3,870 hacking victims in the Murdoch Scandal, data released by Britain's Home Affairs Committee suggests the number may actually be as high as 12,800.

Only 170 of the victims have yet been notified. If any of the others among the "Hacked Twelve Thousand" turn out to be scientists at the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, Rupert Murdoch may be in a lot bigger trouble than he is, even tonight.

He may be the man ultimately responsible for the illegal and inaccurate attempt to dismiss climate change as a scientific fraud.

Comments

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It does not matter whether or not the emails were hacked illegally. Their content displaying scientific malfeasance on the part of the email authors (the principle archhitects of the fradulent temperature history curve upon which all AGW predictions have been made)cannot be whitewashed as "innocent" as has been attempted by those organizations who are profiting for the gigantic and fraudulent AGW steam roller.

What gives you the authority and expertise to judge "malfeasance on the part of the email authors"? Are you a scientist? Are you a Post-Doc Fellow on climatology? Have you forgotten that climate science is one of the newest fields in Earth/physical science?

Detailed climate data has only been collected for less than 100 years. The rest is gleaned from archeology and coring polar ice. (Incidentally, data collected in this manner come under unscientific scrutiny also as they indicate the Earth is older than the Bible says.)

Oh, really? I guess the Bible is the ultimate scientific authoritative book, right? ..and "unscientific scrutiny" tries to tell us the earth is billions of years old?BTW, I taught earth science in high school and have teaching certification in biology, chemistry and earth science...just in case you want to know.

(cont.)Modern science has come a long way but still has a long way to go. Let us not forget that the fields of physics and chemistry are much older than climatology. Let us also not forget that governments and religious leaders once thought the sun revolved around a flat earth.

Furthermore, given the gravity of this issue (anything that potentially threatens the exorbitant profits of large corporations is certainly a grave issue indeed), any scientific professional worth his salt would openly communicate with his/her peers any concern about whether or not any experiment or analysis follows logical scientific process and demonstrates an accurate interpretation of the data collected. That is actually pretty common among researchers--intellectual collaboration and peer review. If you read any scientific journals, you'll see evidence of this. It is a demonstration of integrity, not malfeasance. Of course, that's something that conservatives and Climate Change Deniers seem to know little of . . . integrity that is.

Bryce, have you ever read the actual, full emails, or only the rearranged sentence fragments taken out of context that the right-wing media? I already know the answer, because the emails don't display any type of scientific malfeasance. I also know that you know don't know a thing about climate science, because you are merely parroting the lies being spread by the fossil fuel industry and the far-right-wing life-hating conservatives. There is nothing to back up those lies. On numerous occasions I've looked into what deniers told me were some of their best works. Upon scrutiny, every single one was full of distortions or dishonest manipulations of data. I would advise you to stop proving to the world what a fool you have been to believe those lies. Dig a little deeper. You don't have to dig that deep to see they have no foundation.

Bryce Johnson[quote name="brycenuc"]upon which all AGW predictions have been made

Mr. Johnson, I doubt if any of the global warming predictions were made based on a single graph - this "analysis" of our pending crisis is far to superficial to be of any value and is becoming old news

Far more relevant news stories on this topic are the famine in Sudan and the sweltering heat in the USA

The deniers keep saying the same thing about the emails showing fraud, but you never, ever can give a specific example. You try on occasion, but your attempt goes down in flames.

Why is it that you people are so attached to your belief system, especially when confronted with contradictory evidence? I know about cognitive dissonance and how the right wing clings ever more tightly to its beliefs the more they are shown to be ridiculous, but is that a mentally healthy way to operate?

Carl Saga once made the point: In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they would actuallychange their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics orreligion.

Wow! This is why we need investigative journalism. So many nefarious doings seem to lead to the same evil crew.

Getting rid of one egomaniacal villain and his henchpeople isn't enough. Now let's ban the control of several media outlets by the same corporations. Newspapers, airwaves, radio channels, etc. could be assigned to public interest organizations.

This was not an attempt to dismiss climate change. What it showed was that those being funded to do the science were ganging up to dismiss any contrary view in regards to interpretations of the facts. It was good that their motives and despicable tactics were partially exposed.

It sounds like you have plethora experience in the field of scientific exploration!

Part of scientific research is making sure your experiment and any conclusions derived therefrom stand up to any and all criticism. That is what it takes to advance an idea from theory to fact/law. This is the goal of all research and experimentation.

Collaboration and peer review is common in the scientific community. The results of collaboration are generally carry much more weight than solitary endeavors unless offered by truly exceptional individuals. However, it is easy for those less science-minded to be manipulated by talking heads into a certain position about something you know very little about . . . that is apparently so far beyond their intellectual capacity!

It showed no such thing. More than one independent inquiry concluded there was nothing in the emails to discredit their work, nor was there anything to indicate "ganging up" on anyone. They did ignore one denier kook who was sending them many requests for information every month, because he was only trying to harass them and prevent them from doing their work. Their work is what will save everyone, even you, if we can face the fact that we have to make huge changes to our energy system very quickly.

I think you're calling Steve McIntyre ' a right wing kook'. He's not even though he's a darling of that camp. He neither confirms nor denies AGW. He's interested in statistics and methodology and judged that the East Anglia folks were not being properly scientific. In fact he is a prime suspect in the hacking. There also is a strong case that it was an inside job. The whole issue has become one of politics, not science. But Mother Nature doesn't watch Fox News, she just chokes on how we treat her atmosphere as our sewer.

It would not surprise me if Murdoch's people were responsible for stealing the scientists' emails. The entire corporation is founded on lying and distorting the facts, so why not steal too? One sin easily leads to worse sins. It also could have been done by numerous groups being funded by the fossil fuel industry and far right-wing. For example, the US Chamber of Commerce was about to hire a company to spy on and hack into organizations whose views they opposed, until they were exposed. Who knows how many things like that have not been exposed?

I came across the following earlier this week and thought this may have some baring on this discussion:The Space and Science Research Center (SSRC) announces today that the most recent data from NASA describing the unusual behavior of the Sun validates a nearly four year long quest by SSRC Director John L. Casey to convince the US government, the media, and the public that we are heading into a new cold climate era with 20 to 30 years of record setting cold weather.

According to Director Casey, â€œIâ€™m quite pleased that NASA has finally agreed with my predictions which were passed on to them in early 2007. There is no remaining doubt that the hibernation of the Sun, what solar physicists call a â€˜grand minimumâ€™ has begun and with it, the next climate change to a prolonged cold era.

Dear Keith (my hero) Olberman: Thanks, for the umpteenth time, for informing us.

Wallis is not unique. Wish 'infiltration' was uncommon, but 'fraid it's not. Certainly it's common here in the U.S., in the nation's over seventy fusion centers.

Only difference - (is it really all that different?) govt. operatives vs. Murdoch employees do the infiltrating here. Not only is info. gathered, but control grabbed in media outlest, peace and justice organizations, political parties, etc.. keeping a lid on things and rendering such organizations useless as teets on a bull. I've witnessed and experienced it firsthand here in Colorado Springs, the super fusion center of the country. Google: Colorado Springs Independent, "Malice in the Movement", Fall of 2008.

Yep, Murdoch and his Faux style news is a key ingredient of our villainaire rulers' war, here and abroad, a war on commonfolks and attempt to enslave and MSD (manipulate, spin, distract) us all, in order to keep total control us all and keep their foul fortunes rolling in. And, other minions of the villainaire rulers, i.e. the now over 80,000 govt. operatives here in the U.S. of (greed and power) A.(ddiction), do the same.

No news reporters fudged the data, lost the data, cooked the data, made nifty little tricks that altered the collection methodology of the data since the tree rings data showed a decline that needed hiding, no reporter belittled opposing views (oops the objective media does that all the - reveling their objectives)..

The fraud of hiding the releasing the data even from freedom of information request - because the info was still inconclusive - yet they can firmly make the conclusion that we have to sacrifice everything for this fraudulent carbon tax scam that won't actually solve carbon emissions on the planet but will greatly enrich politicians and give more power to government...

Honest debate does not pretend the debate is over before it starts - only lying cowards who know they are wrong take that approach.

That a lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies; - Tennyson

The half truth appears to be one of the deniers favorite weapons. You see it in creationist literature and you see it in climate change denier literature.

The deniers make a big deal of how there were two methods of determining temperatures, tree rings and actual measurements (although they don't actually name the latter), but they "forget" to mention that when measurements were actually available, they were used instead of calculating them from tree ring evidence. Instead they try to make it sound like there was some sort of coverup.

Seems as if the hacking of Murdoch's henchmen gravitated into an attack on science itself.Stupendious arrogance.Seems that govermental tyrrany is being replaced by the tyrrany of privatization. Winston P. Nagan

It is desperately sad that there are commentators here who are still harping on about malpractice in illegally hacked emails after five independent reviews have exonerated the scientists. The only thing the scientists were admonished about was protectionism from Pat Michaels (who has admitted that 40% of his funding is from the oil industry) and from an aggressive campaign to flood the UEA with Freedom of Information requests - each of which requires 19 hours work. Yet the hackers have never been identified and managed to screw the Copenhagen summit. This was a massive coup for the oil industry (Koch and Exxon) who have been fighting legislation by funding doubt - in exactly the same way that the tobacco industry funded doubt to slow legislation. This is old news.

There are some real suckers posting on this page - either that or people so heavily buried in denial about climate change that they prefer to believe Limbaugh and Beck than over 3,000 climate scientists.

Through observation, we are experiencing that it is Climate Change which causes warming and cooling. With warming, the melting glaciers at the poles and mountains tops add fresh cold water into the global Conveyor Current. This upsets the balance of heavy salted water versus fresh water that keeps the Conveyor Current moving. The warm current is changing to cooler and slowing down. If the warm water of the Mexican Gulf stream doesn't reach the upper Atlantic, Northern America, Europe & Siberia go into a freeze that will not go away. The Earth is a live organism. Check the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute on "Abrupt Climate Change: Should We Be Worried?".

Identifying the hackers would help to open up the flow of knowledge about the Earth's condition. Even the Ring of Fire has been awakened! Earthquakes and volcanoes are on the rise.

Are the deniers ready for another Noah's flood? How many deniers are being paid for every post?

Bryce W. Johnson is a retired Professional Engineer in the State of California

A Climatologist he ain't, a shill maybe, if you search his name you will find his denialist agenda.

Has worked for the SAIC part of the US Military industrial complex (Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC, a joint venture between SAIC and Bechtel) his boss is detailed herehttp://www.nndb.com/people/844/000170334/ click the mapping link and you will see donor to Republican party. enough said?

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